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SS 00121 engine #3: the timing case

I’ve been keen to get on with this engine rebuild since most of the impediments to my progress have been removed. With the Spider, TI and GTV out of my life, the Fiat back in daily rotation and the Sprint doing its trouble-free thing, I can focus on the SS. I may not have been working on it much in the last year, but I have been buying parts as they come up so I am mainly behind in my processing of the parts and way behind in my getting the floors in the car and the rust repaired.

Anyway, this past weekend I got a bunch of rearranging done on the shop and this afternoon I started some of the small ‘parts processing’ jobs I had been putting off, among them the clean up of the timing cover and assembling it along with the timing components to the engine.

Here’s the timing cover after a power wash, some Purple Power scrubbing, some detail work with carb/choke cleaner and a light polish. Note that the generator bolt hole is in good shape. This cover and the block are stamped ’18’. A matching set.

The inside gets just as much attention as the outside. Years of grit need to be cleaned out and gaskets need to be scraped.

This is the Veloce fuel pump blanking plate. You pull the pump actuating rods out, clean it up, install the gasket and screw the cover on. The two socket head cap screws replace studs that are way too long to be used with this cover. Shorter studs with nuts would have been better than the screws but I didn’t have any. Special thanks to Aaron for buying a car that came with this elusive piece.

This is the test fit run. I dropped the original idler gear from this engine on the floor and knocked a couple of corners off the tach drive gear teeth so I got this one from Andrew. Fits good.

Everything checked out so I installed the lower timing chain.

The closed end of the master link points in the direction the chain travels.

The new arrangement. I put the work bench under my loft so I could have more/better lights above the table and screw the cabinets to the wall. Note the timing cover is installed in this picture.

It doesn’t take long to put the engine together once all the parts are in one place and clean. I ordered the piston/liner set, another water pump and a bunch of other junk from Centerline so this thing might be together by the end of the year. I still have some head scratching to do over the Veloce oil pan seal that the pump goose neck mounts into and some bolts and studs to track down, but that’s all just details. 5 more hours down, so 915 to go.

Up next: more differential work, some intake work and getting started on the body.

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